In Light of This New Dawn
by DaUglyChibi
Summary: It was obvious to anyone with half a brain why Wright insisted on seeing him that late at night.


It was well past midnight when a light tapping on the door disturbed the quiet that had permeated the room for the past couple of hours. Another long day that seemed determined to continue on into the next; it felt like he'd dealt with enough trouble to last a lifetime.

At first, he only noticed the noise as a disturbance to his concentration, and it took him a moment to realize the knock signified that there was someone on the other side of the door who wished to speak with him. He hesitated to make his presence known. He could pretend not to be at his office; he should have been at home anyway. If whoever it was asked him why he'd left the light on in his office, he'd claim he'd been too busy to bother to shut off the light … or lock his door, apparently, since it had just been opened.

Any sane person who knew this office belonged to the "demon" prosecutor Miles Edgeworth would never have dared to open that door without permission. The person seemed to regret not waiting for a response and was opening the door very slowly, as if that would make up for their mistake. It didn't, and only succeeded in further infuriating the sleep-deprived prosecutor.

"You've already begun to open the door, finish the action promptly before I call security." He wouldn't really call security, though, because they were a bunch of bumbling buffoons who were usually so incompetent that they fell asleep on the job. He made a mental note to dock the security guard on duty's pay for letting whoever it was at his door into the building at this hour in the first place.

"Wow, edgy as ever, Edgeworth." Of course, he should have concluded the identity of this mysterious late night visitor long ago.

"Wright, I do not believe you are in a position to make puns on other people's names, considering your own."

"But that's why I can't let any opportunities pass me by to let someone else know the pain of being on the receiving end of a bad pun." The blue-suited defense attorney acted as if this were a casual visit. It wasn't as if the attorney was an intruder in his office in the ungodly hours of the morning or anything. Yet, Edgeworth felt that he was obligated to continue the charade that this was just a normal tête-à-tête between the two of them.

"You're looking a bit disheveled," he remarked, dancing around the subject of why Wright was here in the first place like the skilled ballroom dancer he was.

"Oh, you noticed? It's not much, really. It's just kind of a rough walk here from your apartment." Edgeworth raised an eyebrow at this, to which Wright immediately looked away. "I checked to see if you were there first, and by the time I found out you weren't home, the buses had stopped running, so I decided to walk here. I should've tried your office first, now that I think about it. It's closer to my apartment, anyway. At least I finally found you; I would've had to walk back to my place from here and wasted all that time if you hadn't happened to be here."

Edgeworth was certain that he was hiding his surprise at Wright's words rather well. Once Wright's miniature monologue was finished, Edgeworth was unsure of how to respond. For once, he had no retort.

"Well," Edgeworth paused, remembering to stay composed and leave no room for counterarguments, "at least now I can give you a ride home whenever you are done sharing with me the information about why you needed to see me at this hour."

"Is it that late?" Did the man not own a watch? "I lost my watch somewhere along the way." At least he had owned a watch at some point. With the way he was always rushing into the courtroom, one would assume he had never looked at a watch before in his life.

"It is currently a few minutes past five." Saying the time out loud seemed to make it even more of a reality. Edgeworth could feel the migraine already attacking his brain, feeling like his skull was being slowly crushed by two giant hands encircling his head.

"Oh man, it's even later than I thought." Wright looked over at Edgeworth sheepishly. "Sorry for bothering you so late. Or should I say early?"

"No matter how you put it, it is past five A.M. and I have yet to get any rest." Edgeworth heard the sharpness in his tone and wondered if he should really be taking out his frustrations with his current case on the innocent. Wright wasn't even the defense attorney in this particular case, and Edgeworth could only imagine how much more difficult this case would've been if he were.

Edgeworth was surprised to hear Wright let out a small laugh, "Same here, and I didn't get much sleep yesterday, either. Actually, these past couple of weeks have been really bad, as far as me and sleep go."

"Are you feeling ill, or is it just work?" Wright gave him a look of astonishment. What? So now he couldn't be concerned about the other man's health?

"No, I'm fine. Well, not exactly fine, but not sick anyway. And work has been about the same as always. Easier, actually, since we haven't faced off in court in quite a bit."

Silence. "Well, then." Edgeworth enjoyed silence, but did not enjoy this awkward lull in the conversation. Did Wright still not feel the need to state his business?

"Do you mind if I sit down? Believe it or not all that walking around has really exhausted me." Edgeworth decided it was the least he could do to offer the other man a seat on the couch. After Wright was seated, Edgeworth took a moment to study his rival, noticing now just how disheveled he really was. Not only was his suit creased and a bit dirty, especially around the ankles, his face looked much more worn than he remembered.

"Wright…"

"You know what I've noticed?" Wright interrupted, though Edgeworth hadn't known exactly what he'd been about to say. "No one calls me 'Phoenix.' I get called 'Nick' or 'Pheenie' and Franziska calls me 'Mr. Phoenix Wright.' Everyone else calls me by my last name, or some variation of it, but no one calls me just 'Phoenix.'" There was another pause, though after a moment, Wright continued to speak. "Even you and me. We're childhood friends, yet we call each other by our last names."

"We're also rivals in the courtroom. If a prosecutor were to call a defense attorney by his first name, it would seem a bit peculiar." Wright let out a defeated sigh, which made Edgeworth feel uncomfortable. Usually he'd rejoice when hearing that sigh of defeat, but that was when it was heard across the courtroom after he'd presented definitive evidence against the defendant. Hearing it here just felt rather depressing.

"Do you think of me as your rival or your childhood friend?" Wright looked over at him with this unreadable gaze. Edgeworth shifted in his chair, feeling uncomfortable under that stare.

"Am I not allowed to think of you as both a rival and a childhood friend?"

There was a long pause; their eyes met accidentally yet they both hesitated to look away. Eventually, Wright shrugged. "Well, when you put it that way…"

Looking Wright over one last time, Edgeworth finally pieced together all the fragments of logic in his mind.

"Phoenix, since you seem to want me to call you by your first name, I know what you came here to tell me." Phoenix gave him a look of shock and appreciation, which looked quite irregular since the two emotions didn't mix very well.

"You do? How?" Phoenix looked like he was anticipating the worst, which wasn't surprising since it was his proverbial heart at stake.

"If I hadn't figured it out by now, I wouldn't be able to call myself a capable prosecutor, since it is our duty to discern situations given certain evidence.

"You've had a realization of sorts; if we were to take a guess based on your state of disarray and lack of sleep, I'd say it was about a week and a half ago. To put it bluntly, you've come to terms with your feelings. In particular…" Miles had flawlessly started his statement, but for some unknown reason found himself hesitating to finish it. "Your feelings about me."

Miles didn't dare look over at Phoenix just yet; he now needed to present the evidence to support his statement. "If we stay with the claim that this happened about a week and a half ago, that would put it right around the anniversary of my departure and suicide implicating note. I now realize how much of a mistake that was, I also know how it affected you. You became a defense attorney in my stead; you wished to show me the path I had chosen was wrong. Before then I hadn't realized we'd made such a strong connection so many years ago, when I defended you in our grade school's faux court. You more than repaid me the favor when you defended me in court and brought the truth about my mentor to light. You never fail to remind me that you're here for me, that there is someone who is willing to support me when I'm in need. At first I was scared by the prospect that I might need someone else's support. Then I realized that I could also support you, that it was a sort of balancing act. We rely on each other." Miles looked outside; the sun's rays were beginning to peek out from beyond the city.

"In this way, I believe you have very strong emotions towards me." Watching the sun rise, Miles came to another conclusion. "And in light of this new dawn, I believe I have come to realize that I may harbor strong feelings for you as well."

They sat in silence, watching the sun slowly appear from beyond the city's skyline.

"Your logic is flawed," Phoenix finally said. Miles felt his heart sink. Had he just admitted his feelings only to be shot down? He knew he shouldn't have…

"It was about two weeks ago. I'm bad with dates, remember? I can barely keep track of my own birthday. Anyway, Iris, the girl from that case you helped me with, she asked me out. We went on a date; it felt just like it had in college. Towards the end of the date, she pointed out that the only thing I could talk about was you. She had only been with me for a few hours, and she could already tell that she wasn't the focus of my feelings. I guess it's because she already knew me so well, but I was a little more than shocked, to say the least. I've been a real mess since. Maya came over today and kicked me out of my own apartment and said I couldn't come back until I'd finally confessed my feelings to you." Phoenix had stood up and walked over to where Miles was seated. He leaned against the side of the chair, also looking towards the sunrise.

"And there was one last flaw." Phoenix now turned the chair so that Miles was looking at him.

"I don't just feel 'strong emotions' towards you. I love you." Phoenix began to lean in, and Miles knew what came next. He was scared, yet he wanted it, so he waited for it, but Phoenix moved too slowly. Miles grabbed the red tie dangling in front of him and pulled the blue-suited attorney into a kiss. He didn't want to wait any longer; he was finally ready.

"I guess I love you, too."


End file.
